Hell of a Time
by sexyredrose800
Summary: When tragedy hits, it hits hard. Your whole life changes and you never think life would be okay again. Valerie has one such tragedy happen to her, she loses someone very close, and without her dad, by her side, she would have fallen into a dark pit and not come back out. When she meets a gang of thieves, they change her life and show her a way to move forward and thrive. Sly 2
1. Intro

I am very new to writing my own fanfiction and I truly hope you enjoy it. If you have any tips for a newcomer like me I would love to read them in the comments. Please let me know how I'm doing and if you would like me to change something with the way I write. I already have a set plot for the story to follow but I'm always open to ideas that could make it more enjoyable for you guys. I am currently a full-time college student and I have a part-time job so chapters may take some time but I promise I will update. I also promise to not abandon this until its done. Again thank you for reading and on with the show... also there will be lots of cursing and humor XD


	2. Chapter 1

I'm bored out of my mind! I've been sitting here for hours! Four hours and only seven people have come and gone from the museum since I started my shift. I can't believe I've survived two and a half months of this. Gosh has it really been that long since dad got transferred here? I wonder where Interpol is gonna transfer him to next, and when? I hope it's soon and somewhere not in Africa, no offense, the place is beautiful but so so SO hot. Not an optimal environment for long-haired BLACK cats; I feel like the sun is personally attacking me whenever it can get its stinging claws onto me. I've had to get my hair trimmed every other week to make living here tolerable. It's a hassle and it puts a pretty large dent in my summer savings, I'd wanted to buy a new Gameboy. Oh well, I guess I could jus…

Behind me, I could hear someone very loudly clearing their throat and then "Valarie?!" I snapped to attention and turned to face the Cairo Natural History Museum's Director, Mr. Gahiji Khoury…. my boss. "I thought I had already told you today to stop doodling on your clipboard."

"I'm so sorry Mr. Cory! Won't happen again, I just got lost in thought." I rushed trying to appease the old Jaguar.

*Sigh* "K-h-or-E, my name is Khoury, seriously, it's very common not difficult at all, kids have no respect." he muttered the last bit as he rolled his eyes and started to walk away, but before he got too far he turned around to say, "Also I sent you an email to you containing information on the new exhibit opening next week. Please do look through it. As the information assistant to the museum, you really should know this." He said with a hint of groaning in his tone and a look of disinterest on his graying face.

"Yes sir", I said with my own groan that I hoped he couldn't hear as he walked down a hallway, away from my desk in the center of the main entrance area. Damn, I hate this. I can't even doodle or look at my phone. Even though NO ONE IS HERE! I sighed again and signed into the museum's employee email page and as he said in big bold print **New "Giant Mechanical Owl Found in Volcano" Exhibit at the Cairo National History Museum on Monday! (All Employees Must Read). **Long ass name but okay, whatever. Wonder how it got there. Hmmm. Don't care. I then exited the email and shut down the computer. I'll read it later, I've got 20 minutes left before the museum closes for the weekend in preparation for the new exhibit and then I can go home.

I happened to glance up when someone came in through the front doors. With nothing better to do, I decided to deduce him like in Sherlock. First, appearance: he was a young raccoon, maybe early twenties, not too much older than me. He wore a baseball cap low on his face with some nerdy glasses framing his face, tennis shoes and a bulky camo jacket and blue jeans hiding his figure from passers, though with me paying creepy attention I knew he was small, tall as hell but thin. Second, stance: he seemed casual but I noticed his eyes shifting from one corner of the entrance to another like he was on the lookout for an attack coming. He stood straight with his hands in his pockets looking at the different plaques, which hold the information to the different exhibits. Which definitely threw up a red flag for me. One, no person that age actually reads that crap, let alone a guy. Okay, that's a little sexist, but still true. He could be a student to the local college doing a project but no way in hell he was starting on it now. I've seen other students come in through the week and even talked to a few, any class he'd be in, it would be too late to turn anything in. It's almost 8 on a Friday night if he actually cared about the grade on his project he would have gotten this done beforehand otherwise, why bother?

After that I stopped observing and just watched him, you know like a crazy person. My eyes followed him around the room from behind the desk, as he moved behind a pillar; I lightly kicked off the floor to the right with my rolling chair to appease my low key stalking curiosity. My chair rolled a few feet but I couldn't see the guy anymore. I rolled farther right but still couldn't find him, I was about to move back to my desk when something tapped my shoulder. I turned my head and jerked back when deep brown eyes met my yellow ones.

"Uh… can I help you, sir?" putting on a smile and acting like I hadn't just been looking for him. He returned the smile but it was more mischievous like he knew something I didn't.

"Oh, no not really I was just looking around and thought I'd ask why you had been staring at me since I walked in?" he said with a smirk.

"I wasn't staring," I said matter of factly with a straight face.

He chuckled "My apologies, I was mistaken, Ms…?" he asked.

"Barton. It's Valarie Barton."

"Well, my apologies Ms. Barton my name is Tanner. Drake Tanner." He said with a flick of the wrist that gently grabbed and held my hand and tried to place a kiss on it. Keyword 'tried', I quickly removed my hand and placed it back in my lap with an unamused look on my face. He didn't seem fazed by my act, he brushed it off and kept his smirking smile up while returning his hand to his pocket.

"Well, Mr. Tanner is there anything I can help you find, I _am_ the information desk," I asked once more hoping to change the course of the conversation.

"Nah, not really. I just wanted to waste some time while my friends are smoking somthin' funny in our van outback, I don't do that kinda thing, I'm a good child" he said with a knowing smirk. Then his head jerked to the side with a grimps. Though in the part of my mind my deductions picked up that he had an accent that would suggest European background. "We're like brothers," he shrugged one shoulder implying nothing could be done to help his 'troubled' friends. "I've tried and tried with endless failures of rehabilitating my hopeless friends." He said oh so dramatically. He then continued to have a one-sided conversation as he maneuvered his way to sit on my desk in front of my computer.

I looked boardly at him as he kept talking giving little grunts of acknowledgment to show I was listening. Then he pointed behind me and asked about a kid climbing up something. I turned but didn't see any kid.

"Where?" I looked back at Drake.

"Oh, I guess he's gone. Well, I should be going; need to check on my friends," he said sitting up from my desk. Looking at the time on the computer, with 5 min left on my shift I readily agreed and stood up as well.

"Yea, me too. Time to close up. Have a good evening Mr. Tanner, good luck with your friends." I said in a way that had an undertone of 'Hurry up!'

"Thank you and to you as well Ms. Barton. Good luck with the new exhibit." He smiled and walked out the door and around the corner.

_What the actual fuck!? Director Cory had made it fucking clear to that the information on the new exhibit is kept secret until the big reveal on Monday. How'd he know that? And was it just me or was that whole bull shit turn around and look away thing he pulled really suspicious. It reminded me of a spy or robbery movie where they install a virus or chip into the poor saps computer while they weren't looking. _

Out of mild curiosity and an urge to check I moved towards my computer to check the side and back. All I saw was blinking lights and random cords that I don't know what did what. I don't know what I thought I'd find some kind of obvious UBS drive sticking out the side with a blinking red light. Oh well! Time to clock out and head home. Hopefully, dad will do the smart thing and pick up food on the way home instead of unsuccessfully trying to make dinner himself…. again.

I shut down my computer and headed for the employee locker room to grab my stuff and sign out.


	3. Chapter 2

After eating the Chinese take out dad got I fell asleep watching tv on the couch, the next thing I knew I was halfway listening to shuffling by the door and then a bang followed by a curse.

"Dad?" I sat up to look to see Dad fumbling putting on his right shoe as he leaned on the wall; partly illuminated by a small lamp in the hallway that connects to the front door.

"Shit," another curse "sorry V I was trying to not wake you" he stood up straight finally getting his shoe on, then looking over at me on the couch.

"Then next time take your stomping dance class somewhere else that's no 10 feet from me in perfect hearing range," I suggested sarcastically while falling back onto the couch pillow rolling my eyes.

"Duly noted," he replied with the same sarcastic voice, "hey now that you're coherent enough to listen, I have to leave on Interpol business, the museum you work at got robbed not too long ago." He kneeled down to tie his shoe.

"Really?!" I asked, sitting up and staring at him with wide eyes. "Wait, why are you going? That isn't really Interpol's area of business." That didn't make sense, sure it's in the same city as the place my dad's team is based at the moment but this is more of a job for the local police. If Interpol is needed they'd be notified later.

"They're suspecting the thieves are a group of international criminal," He stated standing back up straight.

"Wow, didn't think anyone would waste their time in that place. There's nothing of great value there on display," shifting to put my feet on the floor.

"Actually it wasn't on display, they got to it while it was being shipped in at the loading dock. Have any ideas what it might be?" He asked while grabbing his jacket off the coat rack; during the day it may be a blistering heat but night is really chilly.

"Yeah, maybe but you should go, they'll tell you when you get there anyway."

"Yeah, your right. As always, just like your mother," he said smiling at me and opening the door. That made a small smile form on my face. "I don't know how long I'll be don't wait up. Love you."

"Love you too." After he was out the door and I could hear both locks secured, I huffed and stood up and went to the kitchen area of the combined room. I grabbed my phone off the counter where it was charging and huffed again when I saw the time, 2:27 AM. I went to the window and drew the curtains slightly to see if the sun was even up yet. Nope. I muttered a curse under my breath while placing my phone back down on the counter, excepting that I won't go back to sleep soon; I moved to the cabinet to get a cub then to the fridge to fill it with water. I took a large gulp only realizing now how dry my throat was, which happens frequently when I snore with my mouth open. Ugh.

*BZZZT* BZZZT* I turned to see a smiling devil on my phone screen as it rang with the words 'Satan's Pit' across the top. Figuring it wasn't that strange since they just got robbed, I answered.

"VALERIE!?" I cringed and held the phone a foot away from my ringing ear.

"Yes, sir? What's wrong?" playing dumb, knowing dad would get in trouble if his job found out he told me things about his job.

"The museum has just been robbed. The police are here and they need all the employees here to make statements and answer questions. You're the last one I've called so I need you to get here as soon as possible." He stated all this in a rushed voice, and it was obvious he's said this several times, like a practiced monologue."

"Yes sir, I'll get ready and head get there as soon as possible," I said as I walked out of the kitchen to grab my bag next to the door and put my shoes on. Putting the phone between my ear and shoulder as he continued to talk and ramble in a frantic manner. Which in any other position i would laugh cause he's usually so put together. I put on my jacket and unlocked and relocked the door behind me. Skipping a step or two as I went down the steps from my apartment that was on the first floor. I stepped out the door to shiver as a gust of wind slapped me in the face. My tail unconsciously wrapped around my left leg to conserve warmth. I turned right and walked to my bike chained to the side of the building, no way was I walking I lived on the furthest edge of the city. It would take me 40 min to walk all the way. I rolled my bike to the edge of the building about to get on when a blue van illuminated by the street lamp caught my eye in the alleyway. There was a giant Masked Raccoon logo on the back of the doors that just shot up a whole hoard of red flags.

"Uh sir, do you happen to know who did it?" I asked interrupting whatever my boss was still saying. Seriously what are the chances?

"No but I just happened to hear the police officers talking on their radio about them escaping in a van with a raccoon insignia on the side," he replied, huffing. "Why?"

"Uh,... cause I think I see the van you're talking about outside my apartment," I stated in an awestruck tone.

"Valerie do not move." he stated sternly, "I am telling the police your address but it'll take a minute for them to get there. Their search team is currently on the other side of the city from where you live." He added calmly. I could hear in the background him yelling to people to 'get their butts moving'. "Whatever you do, do no-.." I didn't hear the rest of his sentence cause the van jerked to one side suddenly and it startled me enough to drop my phone. It hit the ground with a small crack sound filling the silence of the night. Ugh, I swear I'm switching to an android, IPhones are so fragile. With my phone broken I saw no point in picking it up, so I leaned my bike against the building and slowly moved to the back of the van in a crouch the whole time. I generally don't believe in stereotypes but in the case of 'curiosity killed the cat' was mighty accurate with me.

I could hear people talking in the van, sounded like men. Not many but enough to know I should keep my distance. One voice that nasally spoke up and I could just barely recognize what he said.

"The clockwork tail feathers seem to be being used by a club owner in Paris by the name of Demitri," then I could a slightly familiar voice speak up.

"Well, pall let's head out before Interpol circles around to this part of the city." I started to back up hoping to be unnoticed, grab my bike and tell my dad what I knew. When that dream came to a crashing halt when my butt made contact with a trash can behind me and it banged against another one making so much noise I cringed. Following that was absolute silence. Then heard police sirens in the distance which gave me hope of escape but then the back doors to the van exploded open and I was faced with a worrying looking Hippo in the driver's seat, a surprised Tortoise with a laptop in his lap in the passenger's seat and a very shocked Drake Tanner staring wide-eyed at me.

"Uh did you hear any of that?"

"Uh no?" I weakly tried. It obviously was not convincing cause the Drake guy jump out the back and ran at me. I shrieked and ran the opposite way towards the mouth of the alley, but I didn't make it cause he grabbed my waist from behind trapping one arm by my side. I shrieked again and in a moment of panic, I used my other arm to elbow him hard in the face. He cursed and loosened his hold but not enough to run so I used the trapped arm to hit him in the stomach. He finally let go and I ran and was about to make a hard right but something metal hooked me from behind. I turned and saw him using one hand to his cover his face and the other to hold onto a stick that I then noticed was attached golden hook that held me in place.

"Sly!? The cops are coming!" The nasal one shouted; in my panic, I hadn't noticed that the sirens were a lot louder and I could see the lights flashing around the corner. I turned to smirk at the raccoon whatever his name was. He glared and to my surprise instead of letting me go he jerked the cane to his body and I followed. He jerked and spun the cane so I would be thrown into the back of the van. I rolled a few times and then just as quickly got up on my hands and knees to crawl towards the exit but before I could get there the raccoon was blocking my way and fixed me with a glare as he shut the left door. I looked out the right one to see Carmelita Fox round the corner with her shock pistol raised and then to lastly see her shocked face as we made contact.

"Help!" I shouted with the hope that that one word would get me rescued and to safety. Then the door was shut in my face.

"PUNCH IT MURREY!" The raccoon shouted to the Hippo. The van jerked at the force of it moving. I lost my balance and fell but quickly reached out to grab the door handle but again the annoying raccoon stopped me bt grabbing my wrist. He then wrestled with me to get it behind me back, I brought my leg up to kick him but he grabbed that too and then pinned me the floor by sitting on my hands and holding my legs together in a death grip.

"Fuck!" I shouted at no one, well maybe the raccoon. Nope! Definitely at the raccoon. "Get the fuck off you asshole!"

"Nope," he said in a muffled voice, I looked back at him and saw him still covering his mouth and I could then see why. There was blood seeping through his blue cloves from his most likely bloody nose.

"I wasn't asking Dip Shit! Get the fuck off!" I huffed and tried to make eye contact over my shoulder with my kidnapper, only to see him looking out the back windows to watch the pursuing police. I was going to start shouting again but the van really tipped sideways when it took a sharp left turn. My kidnapper stumbled and nearly let go but strengthened his grip when I struggled to move. I could hear him grunt and feel him lean over to the side and use his bloody hand to grab some loose robe and tie my wrists to my ankles. After he was done he stood to a crouch and walked over to the driver's seat, while holding on to the side of the van to talk with his cohort in crime.

I listened to them talking and braced myself when I hear the raccoon shout, "Take a left, Pal! Take a right at the corner and there'll be a tunnel!" The hippo did as instructed, there was a dip and then everything was dark, besides the flashing red and blue from the back windows; with my hands tied behind me, I couldn't do much except cull into a tight ball as I was swept across the floor and hitting ALL the things. "Okay take a right,... NOW!" Then it was completely dark and the sirens were in the distance. "Feww, that was a little too close."

"You got that right! Where's my inhaler?" Said the nasal one, as he shuffled through the mess that covers everywhere. I shifted my position to have my back to the doors and face them. Then mister kidnapper chuckled and I assume handed the turtle his inhaler because I was still pitch black, but I heard a deep inhale and a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Sly." We finally reached the end of the tunnel and was again on the surface with street lamps passing, giving me a good lighting to study my assailants.

"So," I said and got the perfect lighting to see them all flinch, I guess they had forgotten me. "Unlike you guys, this is my first kidnapping and I was wondering when's an opportune time for you to let me go so I can kick your asses?" I asked with a straight smile.

"Damn, I forgot about her" talking like I wasn't there; rude."What should we do about her, Bentley?" He asked the turtle.

"I'm not sure, this is not good, not good at all," he said rubbing his eyes behind his glasses.

"Um miss, I'm sorry about this but we really don't kidnap people, I swear!" Said the hippo who by far is the only one to address me and somewhat answer my question.

"Okay but then could you explain to me WHY AM I STUCK IN ONE OF THE MOST STEREOTYPICAL KIDNAPPINGS, being tied up in the back of a suspicious van by three shifty men!?"

"Hey, keep your voice down or I'm gonna gag you." Stated the raccoon pointing a finger at me.

"Oo kinky, but I'm not into that stuff," I stated in a sarcastically flirtatious tone. And I tried my hardest not to burst out laughing as all three of them looked at me with horror. "Hmm, guess your not into that stuff either. One less thing to worry about." I mumbled as the turtle and raccoon forced the hippo to face the road again.

"Heyheyheyhey we are NOT like that! We're not gonna do anything like that to you!" The raccoon rushed out trying, facing me, to try and reassure me.

"Well, thanks for that reassurance but that's only the tip of the iceberg of thoughts in my head that you might do to a young girl like me," I stated matter of factly.

"NonononononoNO! Nothing bad is going to happen to you I promise," as he said that looking into my eyes to convey its truth.

"Promises are meant to be broken," I whispered to myself looking away from him not realizing he'd heard me. Quickly to change the subject, "So Fuckface since I'm not being let go, where are we off to? Besides Paris to rob Demitri." I said in a teasing tone to remind them I knew their plan. …..

"Well, Bentley can you call the motel and order another room with two beds?"

"Sure thing Pal, you going to be in the room with her." Asked the turtle as he typed away on his laptop. This caused a surge of surprise and other emotions to course through me, I looked at them with a 'are you fucking with me' face.

"Yup, I don't trust her for a second," glaring at me.

"How's your face?" I asked in a degrading tone to express my mutual dislike for him. He just glared harder and frowned as he wiped the rest of the dried blood from his nose.

"This is gonna be a long night," sighed the turtle as he slumped in his seat.


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey Guys! I just wanted to thank all of you who are taking a chance on my little story! I would love to know what you guys are thinking, good or bad, would you guys like long detailed or short and sweet. Love you peeps! Now one with the show!**

"Hey Fuckface what time is it?" I called out. It's been over an hour and I could see the sun clearly over the horizon.

"3:46 am, and I do have a name." The raccoon muttered irritably; his ears down in annoyance.

"Oh yea, wasn't it 'Turner, Drake Turner'? I said in a mocking imitation of his voice.

*Sigh* "No, my name is Sly Cooper, part of the Cooper clan of Master criminals," he said the last part proudly with his fists on his hips in a mock pose.

"Master thief? Master Douche bag sounds more accurate." I said with a smirk when he whipped his head at me in contained anger. "To bad about the name, at least Drake was sexy, Sly is just,... what an adverb? The sly fox or more accurate the _sly_ raccoon," as I said this as I had on a look of fake thoughtfulness.

*Growl* "Bentley!? Can smack her now?! Or at least gag her?" He said with a whine of frustration.

No Sly for the 28th time, you can not smack, kick, gag, shove, sit on nor bit her," the turtle said with painfully obvious annoyance at our back and forth retorts.

"To bad the last one seemed interesting," I said with a smirk as I stared the raccoon down. He cringed at the thought and scooted further away from me so his back was resting on the back of the front seats. "Anyways as much fun as it is to see how I can make you squirm I need something out of my bag so if you could untie my hand or be so kind to get it for me I would appreciate it."

"Nah uh. Whatever it is you can deal with it once we reach the motel," crossing his arms in an act of defiance.

"Actually no. Theirs medication in there and i need it now or your gonna have to deal with a girl having spasms in the back of your van. I don't know about you but I think it would be better for all of us if you just let me take my meds. Savvy?"

"Uh Sly? Maybe you should just untie her. For just a second," asked the big kind hippo up front.

"What is she's faking it and she's got pepper spray in there or something," replied the raccoon turning his head to speak in the direction of 'Murray'.

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF.. *sigh* is it that difficult for you to get my bag and look through it?" I asked in exasperation. He made a noise of indifference and slowly sat up to reach over and grab my bag, which somehow made it with me in all that drama. He rested the beat up black school bag on the ground, zipping it open and put his hand in to shuffled through its clutter. He found what he was looking for and held up an orange pill bottle with a white lid and read the prescription name.

"What's Epidiolex?" He asked looking at me. Before I could answer 'Bentley's head snapped around to look at the bottle in Sly's hand and then at me.

"How long?" He asked staring me in the eye.

"11 an' a half hours" I stated boardly, somewhat glad someone understood what was going on.

"Sly untie her now!" Bentley said in a tone that left no room for question as he grabbed a water bottle from a cooler attached to the back of his seat. In confusion and slight worry, Sly hastily crawled over to my sitting position and untied my wrists. I signed in relief and rubbed my raw, red wrists. Bentley handed me the water as I snatched the pills from Sly, I opened it and plopped two into my hand, tossed into my mouth with practiced ease and downed half the water. After, I took a deep breath and sighed in relief that _that _had been taken cared of.

"Ooookaaaay…? What the hell was all that?" Asked sly.

"It was subdural hematoma which is a neurological default I have from a previous injury. Which in dumb man's terms I had bleeding between my skull and brain when I was younger. I _need _to take two of these," shake bottle to cause rattling as emphasis, "every 12 hours or so, and if I don't my brain has a seizure to a point where I could either, vomit, bleed from the nose, spaz so bad I break something, Estera, estera.. basically just next time let me get to my bag. I would greatly appreciate it." I say. He frowns at me and crosses his arms. "You look like a fucking toddler," I state with a blank face. His face scrunches up into a pout and turns to face the front to talk with Murray and ignore me. Rude. Bentley, satisfied with me having taken my meds, shuffled back to his seat up front in the passenger seat.

"How much longer until we're there?" sly sighed in a defeated flop to lean on the seats.

"Half an hour" Bentley stated as he was again busy typing on his laptop.

… time skip …

"Ok so our rooms are on the second floor, Sly your's is 212. Murray and I will be in 214 next door and they have a connecting door so if you need us, we're right there." Explained Bentley as he came back around to the back of the van where Sly was keeping an eye on me.

"Wooow" Sly cheered with fake enthusiasm. " I get to sleep with this ray of sunshine" He jutted his thumb in my direction in a mocking tone. I just stared at me with a blank face.

"Murder will be swift, and painful." I stated with intense eye contact and a monotone voice. He just 'hmphed' at me and hopped out the back. I followed, landing on the cracked and sand covered road and stretched my back hearing a very satisfying round of pops. I then snatched my bag from the van and the key from Sly and trudged up the stairs to the second floor searching for 'our' room. I found it, slid the key in and turned. Then proceed to slam the door in Sly's face but was unsuccessful as he caught it and held it open with a teasing smirk. Sly walked in, past the two beds while tossing his duffel bag on to the one closest to the front door. Then continued walking to the door on the other end of the room and opened the door to find Murray's smiling face.

"Hey Pal!" Exclaimed Murray.

"Hey bud, can you watch the death princess while I take a shower?" Sly asked ignoring the glare and finger I directed at him.

"Sure thing! The Murray will watch the prisoner with intense focus!" Holding up both hands and making binoculars with his fingers to his eyes. Satisfied that I won't make a run for it, Sly grabbed his bag and sauntered into the bathroom, shutting the door.

_Okay okay Val think! Observe! What do you know and how can it help you? Okay first off, sly seems to still be in an upbeat mood even after being up all night running around being chased. His friends don't seem to be acting the same so it can't be a thieving trait they share. So why is Sly so active? Duh! He's nocturnal! Okay how can I use that? Nocturnal mammals tend to sleep most of the day. I've met plenty of dad's nocturnal coworkers who only take the night shifts. They've complained to me plenty of times about how much the despise mornings, and Bentley mentioned that we'll leave to catch a plane to Paris at 9. That won't be enough sleep he'll be out cold. I could use that as a wa….._

In my rush to think of an escape I'd forgotten about Murray behind me. He had cleared his throat to get my attention, I turned to see a juice box in my face. I took it with an awkward smile as thanks.

"What's your favorite color?" he asked as I took the attached straw and stabbed the lid and took a sip.

"Midnight blue" I stated

"Neat! I like red! It's powerful, just like me!" He stated flexing his biceps for emphasis.

"Red suits you. It represents passion. And you definitely have that."

"And a bucket to spare," I turned to see Sly standing in the doorway to the bathroom in a black tank top and workout shorts rubbing a towel over his head drying his hair. "Right bud?"

"Oh yay Sly, you know it!" Shouted Murray with a smile that looked almost painful.

"Anyways pal you should go get some sleep so you can keep that power up, we're gonna need it. You wanna take a shower?" He turned to ask me.

"Nah, in my haste to leave I didn't pack any PJ's. Hmmm I wonder why, what was I thinking?" I scratched my head with a puzzled look, I look back at Sly to see him shaking his head in amusement.

"You ever stop?" he chuckled. Assuming he was referring to the sarcasm.

"Nope, my therapist says it's a defence mechanism," he rolled his eyes walking over to the bed he claimed. Searching through his duffel, then tossing some clothes at me.

"You can borrow those for the time," confused I look at the clothes I caught to see a gray t-shirt and sweatpants. I look at him with narrowed eyes to spot any trickery. He sighs, "look I'm just trying to be nice, you don't have to wear them." I look back at the clothes then him again. Shrugging I go into the bathroom without a word closing the door. I stand there looking around and then an idea clicks in my head. I quickly change into the clothes without taking a shower, then grab the small plastic cup by the sink and fill it with water. I reach for the knob but before I calm my grinning face into a blank one.

"I'll take a shower before we leave in the morning," I vaguely state as I walk to 'my' bed.

"Why?" He looks at me confused

"Look I'm dead tired so I don't want to deal with wet hair right now, it'll just be easier to do it in the morning." I explain grabbing another bottle of pills out of my bag and using the water I grabbed to swallow a few. "Good night," I pull the covers and flop onto the bed covering my head, finishing off the conversation.

"Oookay then"

~Sly's Pov~

_That was weird_.Just encase she tries anything I go to the door and place one of Bentley's gizmos on the separation on the door and door frame. _From what Bentley said it should hold it shut._ I walk past Valerie's bed to the connecting door and throw one more look over my shoulder before I'm in the guys room quietly shutting the door.

"Okay Bentley what do you know about our new guest?" I ask in a whisper not wanting to chance said guest over hearing us. Again. I walk over to the turtle sitting on the far bed typing on his laptop in his plaid PJ's.

"Okay so from what I've gathered I have good news, bad news and worse news," he said still typing on his laptop.

"Lets go bad, good, worse" I suggest already dreading the answer. Murray saunters in from the bathroom in a large sweatshirt, humming a tune that I recognize as 'Row row row your boat', he notices me and opened his mouth but I silenced him by placing a finger to my lips then pointing to the closed door connecting the rooms. He nodded understanding my meaning. He hopped onto the other bed, then a resounding creak is heard, he lays on his stomach and pulls out his game boy.

"Bad news is some of the files I can find are locked by juvenile record being expunged. And then to add to that their seems to be a major incident that happened but was in a small village in Africa and wasn't properly reported or covered by Interpol."

"Why would Interpol be involved?"

"That's in the category of worse news, so be patient." I roll my eyes but focus back onto the screen with a mini slideshow. "Anyways, onto good news, it's actually most of the information I could actually find on her. Birth mother Jasmine Romerez a calico short hair, born in Spain, died when Valarie Boston was 2 years old due to brain cancer." I grimps and feel sympathetic, definitely understanding the loss of a parent. "Father Patrick Boston, long hair black cat, born in the UK, remained when Valarie was 6 to Martha Jernigan, a snow leopard. Had a baby sister by age 7 named Maria. Everything's normal, travel a lot due to father's job, again later for worse," he stops me before I can ask my question, "then things get weird and go missing, I found they traveled to Africa and then there's a death certificate for a four year old Maria Boston. And many hospital bills for Valarie, 6 months later parents divorce. From what her social media says she remarried and now has a baby boy." He finishes off, glancing at my and Murray's shocked faces gaping at him in shock.

"What could be worse than that?" I ask baffled by what his answer might be.

"Well not worse for her but for us, her father's job is a seasoned Interpol agent," he shuts his laptop finally finished.

"Fuck!"


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys sorry for going missing for the past 2 months, but I have recently gotten a new computer to make my writing much better. Right now I want to focus on fixing my previous chapters. Big thank yous to all of you who have commented on my work I'm taking your notes into consideration and am going to make them ten times better. But fear not I am still writing new ones as I go and will be uploading in the next month.


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